Avot292

נושא: Avot

BET MIDRASH VIRTUALI

Ten miracles were performed for our ancestors in Egypt and ten at the [Red] Sea. In the desert, ten times did our ancestors try the Omnipresent, blessed be He; as it is said [Numbers 14:22] These ten times have they tried me and not listened to my voice.

16:
We have reached the eighth time that the Israelites tried the patience of God during their journey through the wastes of Sinai. The Torah [Numbers 11:1-3] describes this incident most succinctly:

The people took to complaining bitterly before God. God heard and was incensed: a fire from God broke out against them, ravaging the outskirts of the camp. The people cried out to Moses. Moses prayed to God, and the fire died down. That place was named Tav'erah [Conflagration], because a fire from God had broken out against them.

In this case the Torah does not mention what had caused the people's complaint. In his commentary on our present Mishnah Rambam suggests that what caused the Divine wrath was the fact that once again the people questioned whether God was really 'looking after them'. It seems to me that this explanation is rather problematic, and better suits the previous incident when, as we saw in Avot 291, explanation #14, the people asked "Is God present among us or not?". A more plausible explanation would be, it seems to me, that the complaint is connected with the next incident and it was only the need of the sages to discover ten "trials" that created an artificial dichotomy. They probably would retort that the Torah explicitly says that the present incident took place at Tav'erah while the next incident took place at Kivrot ha-Ta'avah [Numbers 11:34].

17:
This brings us to the ninth incident, which is recounted in the Torah immediately after the previous one. The people are tired of eating just the manna, the "food from heaven", and demand a more varied diet:

We remember the fish that we used to eat free in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. Now our gullets are shriveled. There is nothing at all! Nothing but this manna to look to! [Numbers 11:5-6]

God's response to this complaint is to provide meat in the form of quails. But the response was not performed in good grace. Moses is instructed to tell the ungrateful people that God will indeed provide them with meat, but

You shall eat not one day, not two, not even five days or ten or twenty, but a whole month, until it comes out of your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you. For you have rejected God who is among you, by whining before Him and saying, 'Oh, why did we ever leave Egypt!' [Numbers 11:19-20]

When the quails arrived the people fell on them gluttonously. God's reaction was not slow in coming:

The meat was still between their teeth, nor yet chewed, when God's anger blazed forth against the people and God struck the people with a very severe plague. That place was named Kivrot-ha-Ta'avah [Graves of Gluttony], because the people who had the craving were buried there. [Numbers 11:33-34]

We should note that the Torah says that "God's anger blazed forth". This is rather like of the name of the place of the previous incident, Tav'erah, which was not then explained. Possibly, here we have a combination of two separate traditions.

18:
The tenth incident brings us back to our present mishnah. Moses sends out a reconnaissance team to check out the Promised Land. Their dejecting report sets back the entry into their ultimate destination by two generations. The fact that the people accepted the negative report of the spies indicated that they had no confidence in God, despite everything that God had done for them since the Exodus. It is this final act of ingratitude that prompts God yet again to despair of this people and to contemplate their destruction. Yet again Moses intercedes. The result of his intercession is described in the Torah [Numbers 14:20-23] as follows:

And God said, "I pardon, as you have asked. Nevertheless, as I live and as God’s Presence fills the whole world, none of the men who have seen My Presence and the signs that I have performed in Egypt and in the wilderness, and who have tried Me these ten times and have disobeyed Me, shall see the land that I promised on oath to their fathers; none of those who spurn Me shall see it."

BMV Home and Search Machine | Avot Archive | Subscribe/Unsubscribe

Shiur Dedication | [What is this?]

This is the address for discussion, queries, comments and requests. If your message appears in a shiur it will be attributed to you by name; otherwise please mark your message clearly "not for publication".

The shiurim of the Rabin Mishnah Study Group are usually sent out on Tuesday and Thursday.
The shiurim of the Halakhah Study Group are usually sent out on Monday.
Did you know? The Mishnah shiurim are also available in Hebrew. (Go to Subscribe/Unsubscribe above)

These shiurim are and will remain free of charge.
If you should enjoy one of them please consider making a secure online donation to the Masorti Movement, which sponsors them. Make sure that you indicate that your donation is for the "Virtual Beit Midrash" in the dropdown box for "My Gift Allocation". All donations to the Virtual Bet Midrash are tax deductable.
Please use this link to reach the Masorti Online masorti logo Donation Form.